


By the Moonlight

by z8tto (ura_nium)



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Angst, Cross my heart, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Heavy? Angst?, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Side Characters (Eden), No one dies i promise you, Sick Characters, it's only gay if you want it to be, no bad words just in case of reasons, sad characters, tw mentions of depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25159150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ura_nium/pseuds/z8tto
Summary: They wake up, but only in a dream.ㅡㅡㅡ8 boys find themselves having to live in a second reality night after night. To stop switching between two worlds, they face decisions that will either make or break them.Shared!dreaming AU, inspired partially by IllusionChapter 2 is additional author's notes
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Choi San/Jeong Yunho/Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang/Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa/Song Mingi, Everyone/Everyone, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa, OT8 - Relationship
Comments: 13
Kudos: 45
Collections: When this universe sucks... go make a few of your own.





	1. By the Moonlight

The first dream happens several days after Wooyoung's 18th birthday.

It’s the strangest dream he's ever had. He wakes with the feeling of being on a boat, like the ground beneath his feet is rocking, and there's the coarse feeling of textured wood beneath his fingers. He hears the soft swish of the clouds lapping against the side of the boat, and there is a subtle scent of a flower that he can’t quite remember the name of, but it smells like firewood and honey. Wooyoung opens his eyes and for a split second, instead of his empty bedroom ceiling, he sees the bruised night sky dotted with an endless array of stars, but then he blinks and the sky is gone, flitting away like a shadow disappearing when the sun moves behind a cloud.

 _It will happen again. It will keep happening,_ the boy with the bright blue hair had said. The... The leader? The captain. That's right, that's what the other boys called him. The captain.

What is his name? Wooyoung sits in bed, trying to catch the last bits of his dream, but they trickle away like water between his fingers. He can't remember. All he remembers was the way the boy had smiled when he had said that they would see him again. It is a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. It had looked sad, almost apologetic.

He wants to think nothing of it, because dreams are just dreams. Dreams often don't make sense either. But this one is different. The details vanish, the way it often does with dreams, but he remembers their faces and he remembers what they had said. He can't get it out of his mind, no matter what he does.

When Wooyoung opens his textbook in class, instead of printed black words on white pages, there is a section of the map inked on a soft parchment. He startles, knocking his book off his desk by accident and drawing stares from his classmates, but when he opens the book again, the map is gone. A similar thing happens at lunch, he's with his friends, joking around and talking. He glances down at his plate, then looks back up and he's not in the canteen anymore, he's sitting in the ship's kitchen with several other boys, their outfits are haphazard, mismatched, and bright. They are talking to him, smiling too, bumping shoulders with each other over a table overflowing with scrolls of paper and nautical instruments. There is a telescope in his hand and he can feel it, heavy and cold and brassy. It feels real.

Someone calls his name and Wooyoung turns, and he's back in the canteen. His friend is talking to him, like he hasn't just been teleported someplace else. The telescope in his hand is now a spoon.

This isn't normal, he thinks, as he tries his best to pull a smile across on his face. This doesn't feel like just a dream. And if what the captain had said is true, then he would meet them again tonight.

A sudden feeling of anxiety seizes him. He stares into his lunch. Something's going on, and he needs to know exactly what it is.

~

His life is good. There’s no denying it.

If you think about it carefully, before the dreams, Yunho really had the most normal, the most pleasant life one could ever have. From his family, to his friends, to school and his personal leisure, he had it great. He never needed or wanted anything more.

Until the fateful night he closed his eyes and awoke upon a flying pirate ship.

 _Aurora, that is her name,_ Hongjoong had said, _pretty, isn’t it? That’s what we call her._ Yunho is quite sure he’s the one who named her; after all, he has been stuck in this reality the longest. Although hyung never said it, Yunho is nothing if not sensible. The older boy knows the way things work too well to be new to this world. Yunho had asked Hongjoong about it once, but the other had looked uncomfortable, like he wasn’t keen to talk about it, so Yunho hadn’t forced him.

To be very honest, Yunho doesn’t care. He enjoys his time aboard _Aurora_. Although it sometimes leaves him too exhausted to pay attention in class in the day, it brings a certain flavour to his life. He honestly can’t remember his life before this — it must have been a very dull one.

Days on _Aurora_ were never boring. To begin with, they had the oddest selection of clothing, and Yunho always finds it fun to put on whichever items clashed the most because it amused everyone on the boat. They all had their favorite items though — for Yunho, it was a pair of sunglasses that looks great with his peachy-pink hair, according to San and Mingi. For Seonghwa, it is a shiny silver bracelet, and Yeosang’s is a horseshoe earring. Mingi always picks the same loud, yellow-checkered trousers, and Hongjoong always has his compass with him. Jongho and his telescope are inseparable, just like San and his cable-knit jumper, and Wooyoung and his lab goggles.

It is good to have an end to a journey, but it's the journey that what matters the most, as the saying goes. They always had something to do on the ship. Personally, Yunho enjoys scout duty, where he gets to climb to the topsails of the ship and gaze into the endless beyond. He would get to use the telescope Jongho had bought at one of the islands they’d docked at, and gaze across the sea of clouds to see if he can spot their next landing spot. Up at the watch station, every now and then, a cloud will pass by, and he’d reach out his hand to try and touch it. Whenever he managed to graze one, it would dissolve like sugar in his hand, and the condensation always tasted mildly sweet, like some sort of nectar. Hongjoong had taught him that. It is a strange novelty of this dream-world that he will never tire of.

He’s always a little reluctant when the day eventually draws to an end, and he climbs into his hammock to go to bed. It takes some time to figure out what he’s so hesitant about; for the longest time, he wasn’t sure if he felt that way because he didn’t want to leave the dream, or if it was actually because he didn’t want to return to his real life.

He eventually settles for a little of both. His real life is great, he loves his family immensely and his friends are really awesome as well, but being on _Aurora,_ being with Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yeosang, San Mingi, Wooyoung, Jongho, and _Aurora_ herself… it was an entirely different story. As ironic as it was, he sometimes feels more alive in his dreams than he does in reality. Is that strange? He doesn’t know.

So no matter where he is, whether it’s in his large, comfortable bed at home, or on the strange, swaying ship in the middle of an ocean of clouds... wherever he is when he opens his eyes, he is content.

That is all that matters.

~

Mingi doesn't believe in fairytales. He’d stopped believing in them since he was a child, when he realized that people leave and things end and everyone lies. He cannot afford fairytales. Living is hard, and that was all there was to it. There is no such thing as magic, or monsters or superpowers. Imagined fantasies bring nothing but despair and resentment. They are useless.

But this is different. These are supposed to be dreams, because they happened while he slept, but they don't feel like dreams. They don't behave like dreams. He wishes he was imagining it, but he knows for sure that he isn't.

Every night for the past two weeks, when he settles down on his hard bunk in the youth home and goes to sleep, his eyes would open moments later and he would be in the hammock in the lower deck of _Aurora_. He would lie there, savouring the faint smell of burnt wood and sawdust. It is a comforting smell. It smells warm. 

Living on _Aurora_ is easy, Mingi thinks, to live on her is to live simply. The other boys are great fun to be around and they treat him like he’s valuable. Also, it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is, Hongjoong is generally always around to let them know what needs to be done, and Seonghwa is often here with him. He doesn’t ask what kind of hours the hyungs keep, because if these are dreams, it seems that they spent more time being asleep than awake. All Mingi knows is that he is happy when he is with them and the other boys. They make him happy because he knows that he has a place with them.

It's so easy here that it scares him. It is confusing how safe he feels, how happy he is. 

They have a few rules on the ship. One, no talking about real-life affairs, it complicates matters and they need to stay focused. Two, they needed to find the way to escape these recurring dreams. To do that, they have to find the Treasure. Wooyoung is very fixated on this, as is their youngest companion, Jongho. At their weekly gather-rounds, where they make a small firepit and eat snacks that they’ve made and talk until the stars fill the sky, they always talk about how it gets confusing to have both realities exist together and how they wish they could just live in a single reality, the waking reality, again.

Mingi empathises. He knows how difficult reality feels like these days. In school, he always ends up falling asleep in his lessons because he’s so tired from his dream-adventures. If your reality was one that matters to you, he could see how it could frustrate someone to have to juggle two realities.

But doesn’t really matter to him; school makes no sense to him anyway, and he has no family. He doesn't _like_ his life, he just lives it. The obsession that those around him have with ‘life’ baffles him. To him, life just seems like a never-ending drone of the same routine; wake, study or work, eat, then rinse and repeat. It’s so mind-numbing.

Still, it may be different if you have family, so Mingi can understand why the others would not want to stay in the dream. 

But for him, it’s the complete opposite. In the dreams is where he actually _has_ a family. He finds himself looking forward to nightfall, when he can climb up to his bunk and curl up under threadbare sheets, close his eyes and meet his friends. His brothers. The ship is the closest thing to home he has had since his parents passed away. The youth home he stays in is an angry, unfriendly place, but here on _Aurora_ he thinks... no, he knows he has a home. This is the thought that stays on his mind as he pulls on his mismatched day clothes and goes up to the upper deck to see who’s up.

Is this what having a life worth living, a future worth looking forward to feels like? 

He tells Hongjoong as much, and the older boy gets a strange look in his eye. He tells Mingi that this dream is not worth having, and they need to find their way out. _That’s the goal, remember our destination_ , the captain always pleads with him. But Mingi can’t help it. He likes the dream too much.

If they find the Treasure, this means he will have to leave. He will have to leave the only family he’s ever had behind. He doesn’t want that. Even as he nods along to Hongjoong’s words about how they have lives to live in the real world, and how they cannot stay in this dream forever, Mingi has already come to a conclusion of his own.

As difficult as it is to admit it, this place has become his only home, and he doesn’t want to leave.

~

_FIND YOUR TREASURE AND YOU SHALL BE FREE._

The words carved overhead into the wall of Aurora’s bridge never leaves his mind. Every conscious moment of his is spent motivating himself with the thought, pushing himself towards their goal, so that he can finally leave this nonsense behind. He has a life to get back to, and he is getting tired of spending his sleeping hours, for the lack of a better word, awake.

It is not like he dislikes his hyungs. Honestly, they are the only things that keep him sane in this nightmare. Having the others with him, stuck in this same mess, it made it easier to deal with the crushing fear that this was all just a figment of his imagination.

 _Just because it’s a dream, doesn’t mean it’s not real,_ Seonghwa had said, after Jongho had unloaded all his worries on him one afternoon. The words were a balm to his agitated soul. He was thankful for the comfort, but when he’d expressed his gratitude, the older boy had shook his head with a strange, sad smile on his face.

 _Someone else told me that, once._ he said, ruffling Jongho’s hair, _I’m just passing the message on._

At the start, Jongho thought that he could change the path. He fought it and did everything he could to escape this alternate dream-reality. He’d tried taking sleeping aids, hoping it would blanket and prevent the sleep-travel, as Mingi called it. He’d tried staying up and not sleeping, only taking naps. But it never lasted long. It always became too much and he, eventually fall asleep, and wake up in the hammock. The hyungs would be there, if they were sleeping in their other reality, and he would tell them what he did. They would always empathise. Yeosang would give him a tight hug, and Wooyoung would sit and listen to him as he raged at the whole world. They understood the way no one else did. This isn’t where they belonged, and they knew it. Hongjoong said it himself. This is not their place. They are just as desperate to escape this as him. But there was nothing they could do but keep sailing towards it. The Treasure.

They will find it, Jongho is sure of it. They may be a strange, slightly mismatched ragtag team of teenagers stuck on a magical flying ship in a dream, but they’ve been working together for what feels like months now. They are fantastic together. When all eight of them were in it, and they all put their minds into it, they could do anything. _We are a team_ , as Hongjoong always says. It’s the only thing that burns brightly in his chest, along with the desire to find the Treasure.

Eight. Eight of them are a team. They will find a way out.

He believes they will.

_FIND YOUR TREASURE AND YOU SHALL BE FREE._

~

 _No discussion of real-life events,_ one of the hyungs had said sternly. It had been one of the first things he was told when he first woke on the ship. He was the last one to arrive, everyone else, even the youngest, Jongho, had been there for close to a week.

As time goes on, he realizes that the rule isn’t as strict as he first thought. They could talk about their lives, like their family, their troubles with friends, about things they enjoyed doing. The rule is there just to ensure that they don’t get too carried away in thinking about their realities, so they focus on getting out of here.

 _Eyes on the prize, Young-ah,_ he tells himself, _the Treasure. Get to the Treasure._

The two rules of the ship are easy to follow. At least that is what he thought, until he walks into a convenience store one day and finds himself staring straight into a familiar face.

“Y-Yeosang?!”

In reality, Yeosang is more reserved than he is on the dream-ship. He’s quieter, more awkward. He’s different. Wooyoung isn’t sure what’s exactly is different, when they first meet. Maybe it’s because he smiles less.

When they’d first locked gazes in the store, Wooyoung had briefly entertained the idea that Yeosang had tracked him down and found him in the real world. This idea is discarded immediately when Yeosang starts to tell his side. He’s had enough time in their dreams with the boy to know that he’s not a liar, so he trusts his word. He doubts the boy even knew that his school was just around the corner, seeing how he’d never mentioned anything about his reality to anyone on the ship.

“I honestly thought that we were all from different realities, at least different time periods,” Yeosang says thoughtfully, as he stacks the boxes of biscuits onto the shelf, with Wooyoung beside him in the aisle. This is his work, he’d been looking for something to do in his spare time, and with how young they are, it isn’t easy to find a stable job with a decent salary.

“What made you think that?”

A brow disappears into Yeosang’s messy dark hair. Slowly, a smirk tugs his lips up.

“Well, for one, your fashion sense on the ship is horrible. You always look like you came out from the seventies, and not in a good way.”

His friend’s teasing is met with a sharp elbow jab from Wooyoung. Despite Yeosang’s comment, a strange sense of relief washes over him. He thought he’d imagined the whole thing, from the ship to the boys to the treasure. At least now he knows that they are real.

That he’s not just dreaming. It was a thought that was more comforting than anything else in the world.

Yeosang is the one who thinks they should agree to not mention their meeting to anyone else in the dreams. _Rule one, remember_ , he says. _If we break it, things may get even messier than they already are._

Wooyoung pauses, then agrees. But he is a curious person by nature, and he wants to understand what is going on. He can’t help it; he has to know.

When he gets the chance, he thinks as he walks out of the store, waving to Yeosang as he goes, when he gets the chance, he’s going to have to talk to San. San would understand.

He hopes that they will listen to him. Screw the rules, they need to know.

He needs to know.

~

His father opens his door, clutching a stack of folded cardboard boxes. He places them silently beside the door, avoiding San’s eye as he retreats from the room. San watches him, his eyes sharp and steely.

He knows his sister has already made her decision. She’s almost done with university, and she is planning to use the remaining term to raise money so once she’s done studying, she can move out from the student housing and into an apartment with some of her close friends. His mother will be leaving for the countryside in a week, and they’d already decided that San was going to go to her. _It’s not like your father wants you around anyway,_ she had said. Those words stung; they made him cry himself to sleep at night.

He knows it’s true. But just because its true doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

San sighs, falling back against his pillows. He doesn’t want to pack. He doesn’t want things to be like this. He’s so sick and tired of it.

It had always been easier to sleep and escape reality. But with the recent… developments, in both his sleeping and waking world, sleeping has become an even better form of escape than before.

He shuts his eyes, listening to the hum of overhead lights in his room and the low whirr of his electric fan. He gropes around his bed for a plush and clutches it close to his chest once he has it. Whichever toy it is, he isn’t sure. It doesn’t matter anyway. He’ll wake up on _Aurora_ without it.

Even so, he can’t say that he enjoys being on the ship. Of course, he enjoyed spending time with the other boys immensely, but this whole situation just doesn’t feel like something he should keep escaping to either. It makes him feel almost ashamed, like he’s running away from his real problems. But he can’t help it—real problems are messy.

 _I want to live normally again. I just want to be normal_ , he tells Wooyoung and Yunho, as they lie on the roof of the bridge and watch the clouds go by. Technically, the three of them are on cleaning duty, but if anyone asks, they are waiting for the floor to dry before they gave it another mop.

The other two seem to understand. Yunho says it feels like a tug-of-war, like he’s being stretched over two worlds. But he says that he had asked Hongjoong, who had been navigating, and he estimates that they would reach their final destination by the end of the week.

“We are almost there,” Yunho says with a smile, “Once we get there, all we’ve got to do is find the Treasure and we will be free to go.”

“Right¸” Wooyoung doesn’t sound convinced, “It’s that easy.”

He gets a playful shove for his sarcasm, and the push makes him roll off the side of the roof with a yell. Yunho laughs when he eventually reappears, pink in the face and with a large, wet patch on his shorts because of the wet floor. San looks on as the taller jumps to his feet and runs away from Wooyoung, who has picked up one of the dripping sponges that they use to scrub the main deck and is now in pursuit.

“You’re going to regret that!” His friend yells. He smiles, but the words echo the small voice in his head that speaks up every time he thinks about going back and staying in this dream. He knows he shouldn’t run away from his life, it’s just… it’s so much better here. No fighting parents, no absent sister. 

He doesn’t know what to do.

San looks up to the topsail and spots Yeosang, who is standing there with Hongjoong’s binoculars. He waves at him, and the boy waves back, shaking his head. No land in sight, not yet. Then there’s no point in him climbing up to join him, he’ll just be distracting Yeosang from his duties.

He sits up, and wonders if he should go to the galley and look for Seonghwa. Seonghwa is always there to listen to his worries. Hongjoong is usually happy to listen too, but their captain has been up to his eyes with work, charting the route for the ship. He thinks the blue-haired hyung hasn’t been sleeping, judging from the bags under his eyes, but Seonghwa told him not to ask about it. San thinks he understands. They all have their own burdens to bear, and as much as he wants to help the others out, he can barely even handle the things he has on his own plate.

“San? Hey, San.” Wooyoung is calling him.

“Yeah?” The boy is walking back towards the roof, dropping the wet sponges in his hands into their pails of soapy water. Yunho has disappeared somewhere, probably to the lower decks to avoid being attacked, so that just leaves Wooyoung and him on the main deck, and Yeosang in the masts.

“I need to talk to you about something.” Wooyoung says, climbing up to where he is spread out on the roof. San doesn’t think he’s seen the boy look this serious before. It is a strange look on the normally excitable and energetic boy.

“Sure, what's up?”

Wooyoung calls Yeosang, waving for him to come down. San straightens up properly crossing his legs as Yeosang comes sliding down the rope to join both of them.

“It…” Yeosang drops down to sit with them, his eyes meeting with Wooyoung’s as if he is trying to tell him something.

“I met Yeosang in the real world,” Wooyoung’s dark amber eyes are oddly bright. The tone of his voice sends a shiver down his spine. At the corner of his eye, San sees Yeosang shift, his eyes dropping to the binoculars in his hand.

“Rule one. We broke it.”

~

Yeosang is given the task to talk to Jongho about rule one, but if he’s being honest, Yeosang doesn’t know if he wants to do that. He doesn’t like doing this, it feels too much like some sort of betrayal. Like he’s going behind the backs of the others who have given him something he never had.

The real Yeosang isn’t like the dream Yeosang. The other boys don’t know this, not even Wooyoung. Sure, since their first meeting at the convenience store, Wooyoung has dropped by countless times since, often dragging him out after his shift to meet with his friends, or bringing him to the arcade to play games and let loose. He’s surprised that his friend hasn’t asked him why he keeps daily shifts at the store, or why he doesn’t have to go to school. Others may be too polite to ask, but he thinks that for Wooyoung it’s just because he hasn’t noticed it yet. Yeosang doesn’t blame him—Wooyoung just doesn’t understand. No, he can’t understand. It is not possible. He has friends, he has a family, and his real life is good.

Yeosang doesn’t have that. All he has is his sick mother, and his father who never comes home, so he had to drop out of school and find a job. He has to work to be able to feed both himself and his mother, while his father is out doing whatever the hell he wants to do. It’s not like he isn’t already used to this. It didn’t used to be like this. A few years ago, when his father’s business was still booming and his mother was well, he was happy. Now, he just wants to run away from this.

The dreams are better. He’s better in the dreams, because there he doesn’t feel like he’s tied down to anything. Like _Aurora_ , an unmoored ship floating through the sky, he could go anywhere, he could do anything. As long as he has his friends next to him, they could do anything together.

If only that is how everyone thought.

Wooyoung seems to think differently. They’ve become close over the past few weeks, both through the dreams and in their meetings in the real world. It has already come to the point where the other boy has started calling him his best friend. Yeosang doesn’t know if he’s allowed to use that phrase. He doesn’t have the right to call Wooyoung his best friend if he can’t even tell him the truth about how he feels. He can’t call Wooyoung his best friend if all he does is lie to Wooyoung. Even if he doesn’t mean to, because lying by omission is still a kind of deception.

He pours this all out to Hongjoong, after one of their night-time suppers around the fire pit. Everyone else has fallen asleep on the main deck, so they’ve probably returned to their reality. But Yeosang hangs behind, wanting a moment with their captain.

He doesn’t tell him about meeting Wooyoung in the real world, but he doesn’t have to, because Hongjoong seems to understand.

“Things are easier here, hyung. I don’t have problems when I’m here. I don’t think about bad things when I’m here with you guys.” Hongjoong is looking at him, his eyes shining. Yeosang is thinks that maybe it’s because of the firelight.

“But you have to go back, Yeosang. This is not real life. This is not living.”

“But what if…” his tears catch in his throat, and he looks away from the older boy, eyes to the night sky above. The stars from _Aurora_ were always so bright. They come in a myriad of dazzling colours, but Yeosang’s favorite stars are the blue and purple ones.

He feels Hongjoong’s hand touch his shoulder.

“What if what?”

He closes his burning eyes. His mother always him told that when he’s sad, he can look at the stars. But in the real world, he never sees them. Living in the city makes the sky difficult to see because of the light pollution, so Yeosang always walks home at night with his head down, looking at his feet. Nights in reality are always the loneliest. But here, on _Aurora_ , the stars are so, so bright.

“What if…” He swallows as he feels a tear, sliding down the side of his face, “Hyung, what if this is all I have? What if my real life isn’t—”

Yeosang looks back down, his sentence cutting short when he sees that Hongjoong is crying too, eyes bright with unshed tears. His breath catches, but before he can say anything the older hyung pulls him into a hug. It is the warmest, most comfortable hug he has ever had, more real than any hug he has gotten in the recent years, in the real world.

“You have to. You have to keep living.” The tears rise unbidden now, and he can’t speak for fear he would start bawling. So he buries his face in Hongjoong’s soft, downy cardigan and cries. Hongjoong strokes his head in the gentlest way, his breathing hitching every now and then with his own tears.

“You have to keep going. You have to. This has to end. You have to leave. I’m sorry, Yeosang-ah.”

Then he says, so quietly that Yeosang barely hears it.

“I’m sorry. I know what it feels like, and I’m sorry. ”

~

When they reach the island, Jongho is buzzing with energy. So much has changed in the past week. Yeosang told him about how he, Wooyoung, and San broke the first rule of the boat, and they realized that they were all living in the same time, same city. _What are the odds?_ Yeosang had joked, but he’d looked unsure about breaking the rule. But Jongho was fine. What the others don’t know can’t hurt them. 

Since then, they’ve been keeping in contact using their phones. Wooyoung has managed to find Yunho in the waking world. And surprisingly, the boy had said that he and Mingi have already met, by chance as well; they’re in the same school, just in different classes. Yunho said that they hadn’t said anything because they were worried about what the others felt about breaking the rule.

Honestly, he doesn’t know why the first rule is even a rule. He’d followed along with it at first because the rest said they should, but after finding the others in the real world, it has been easier. He doesn’t feel like he has to hide their night-time travels like it’s some sort of shameful secret, or that there was no one that understood why he was so on edge and irritable all the time. They could meet in the real world and talk about it, like regular people, and the best part is that they understood his experience because they are living with the same problem.

Just before they dock at the island, Jongho pulls Seonghwa aside and tells him everything, explaining what they have done. He tells him earnestly that there haven’t been any issues with them meeting in the real world, so they should just do it. The eldest’s face turns unnaturally stiff when he continues, telling Seonghwa about the next meeting they have planned, in a small café in town called _The Garden_ , tomorrow afternoon. They can meet up and see if there’s another way out of this, in case finding the Treasure doesn’t work.

“We’re here!” Hongjoong calls, breaking off their conversation. The blue-haired captain was standing on the main deck, smiling and waving at them. Jongho waves back. Seonghwa doesn’t.

The map that Hongjoong has tells them they have to make a trek deep into the heart of the island. Hongjoong must sense his excitement, because he hands the map to him and says he is the navigator for this final adventure and Jongho has to lead them. The captain smiles warmly when Jongho thanks him. Mingi complains about not being the navigator, so Jongho rolls his eyes and tugs him closer, and they share the map and lead everyone together.

The trek takes the better part of the day, and they finally arrive at the gaping mouth of a cave. It is a strange, large tunnel, and the walls are all silver, like someone had wrapped them in some sort of foil.

“Do we go in?” San asks, looking suspiciously at the entrance. Wooyoung comes over to look at the map as Mingi spreads it on the ground.

“I think so. The map says that Treasure is inside.” Jongho stoops down and points at the little X marked on the map, with the word Treasure written on it.

“Treasure? What is this Treasure you boys speak of?”

All eight of them turn around. There is a man walking into the clearing that they are standing in. He’s strange, not like anybody else they’ve met on their other stops along the way—he is dressed in black from head to toe, his face hidden in a black leather mask and his hair in a wide-brimmed black hat. His gloved hands are held behind his back as he walks towards them.

Mingi gathers up the map, standing. Jongho quickly takes his arm and pulls him close to him, while the others join them, watching the man with suspicious eyes. For a moment, no one speaks, then Hongjoong gently pries Yeosang’s hand off his forearm, and steps away from them, approaching the strange man in black.

“Let them go.”

The black-suited man cocks his head as he looks at their captain. Seonghwa looks like he wants to lunge out and pull Hongjoong back, but San is clinging onto him tightly, not letting him break away.

“You. We meet again.

Hongjoong takes a deep breath, and huffs it out, his posture stiffening.

“Let them go. All of them this time.”

The man pauses, then speaks again. Jongho feels a shiver run down his spine—he can hear the grin in the stranger’s voice.

“That’s not your choice. It’s theirs and you know that, don’t you? Fearless leader.”

“They want to leave, so let them go. Now.”

“What’s going on, hyung?” San whispers to Seonghwa, who just shakes his head mutely. The man in black sidesteps Hongjoong

“Boys. Your captain says you want to leave. Is this true?”

“We—” the man raises a finger, cutting him off.

“A simple yes or no will suffice. If you want to leave, it’s that easy.”

“Liar.” All eyes go to Seonghwa. Hongjoong looks at the eldest sharply, hissing.

“Seonghwa, stop—”

“No, Hong. I will not stop,” The eldest shouts, eyes glinting with anger as he turns back to the man, “Nothing is that easy. You’re lying. You think I don’t remember what happened the last time round? What you did to him?”

Seonghwa’s eyes go to Hongjoong, then back to the man in black. Hongjoong deflates a little.

“What happens if we leave?” Yeosang asks. Jongho is confused; he doesn’t understand what is going on.

The man in black chuckles, “Nothing. If you want to leave, you leave. But…”

“But what?” Yunho says, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Surprisingly, it’s not the man that answers, but Seonghwa, his voice low and angry.

“Hongjoong has to stay.” There is a chorus of shocked exclamations, and Mingi drops the map onto the dusty ground. Jongho picks it up, eyes glued to the scene before him.

“Why! Wait, why do we get to leave but Hongjoong hyung has to stay?”

The masked man eyes narrow as he looks at Seonghwa.

“You’re no fun, you let the cat out of the bag.”

“If I didn’t say it, would you have told them?” the oldest spits, glaring at the man.

This whole situation is spiraling out of control. Jongho feels dizzy with everything. Beside him, he hears Wooyoung shout, “Answer us! Why can’t hyung leave?”

The stranger in black tilts his head strangely, before he turns to Hongjoong. There is a pause, before he looks back to them, his eyes inscrutable.

“The captain must go down with his ship.”

The reply makes his blood turn cold. What does that mean? Hongjoong looks pale, but not surprised. Seonghwa doesn’t look shocked either. They both knew about this. Why didn’t they say anything before?

“Wait. What happens…” Mingi says, slowly, “What happens if we want to stay?”

Hongjoong’s eyes widen.

“Mingi, please. Just tell him you want to leave—“

“If you want to stay, then…” the man interjects, reaching into his pocket. He pulls out a weird contraption, holding it in his hand. When he holds it up, Jongho realizes what it is.

An hourglass, glinting in the sunlight.

“If you want stay, then I will tip this, and you and your precious captain will have to do this all over again. Again and again. It was what you wanted the last time around, wasn’t it?” The man’s gaze settles on Seonghwa, whose face is contorted in anger.

“Hyung, you’ve been here before?” Wooyoung whispers.

“He has. He didn’t want to leave our dear Hongjoong behind the last time around. So I made them do it all over again.” The man is jiggling the hourglass gleefully, looking from one boy to another. There is a long pause, then Wooyoung speaks up, saying slowly.

“If we don’t leave, then we have to keep doing this? It doesn’t end?”

“That’s right.”

“Is there another way out? Because I want to leave. All of us want to leave—”

“I don’t want to leave.” Yeosang’s voice. He sees Wooyoung's eyes fly to his best friend, his mouth dropping open. San inhales sharply.

“Yeosang? Yeosang, what are you saying?”

“I don’t want to leave either,” Mingi. The older boy is standing ramrod straight, staring at the man, “I want to stay with hyung.”

Yunho looks at the other boy, his eyes pained, “Mingi…”

“Mingi, Yeosang, no. Please go. Please.” Hongjoong pleads. His eyes go to Seonghwa who shakes his head.

“You know my answer, Hongjoong-ah. I want to stay. We will find a way out of this. If we are leaving, we are leaving together."

The stranger clears his throat loudly, making them all jump, “Alright, so it’s settled? Let’s see, so Mingi, Seonghwa, and Yeosang, you don’t want to leave, but the rest of you are going?”

Jongho feels like he’s rooted to the spot. He opens his mouth to speak, but no sound comes out. Everyone seems similarly silenced, they all look confused and frantic, except for Seonghwa, Mingi, and Yeosang. Seonghwa has manage to shake San’s hands off and has walked over to Hongjoong, touching his arm reassuringly. The captain looks upset though, he keeps looking from the masked man, to Seonghwa, to them.

Yunho grabs Mingi and Wooyoung, shaking his head. Jongho turns and sees him mouthing his words rapidly at them, echoing the thoughts in his own mind; _I don’t want to leave without you. I don’t want to leave without all of you. Please._

Jongho hears the masked man continue, his voice ringing loud and clear in the silent clearing, “Understood, please say your last goodbyes to your friends and—”

Something moves at the corner of his eye. The next thing he knows, his eyes fly open and he sits up in bed, breathing heavily.

The dream is gone.

~

Mingi is confused. He chose to stay in the dream, so why did he wake up?

He looks around; the other boys in the dorm are still asleep. The clock tells him that he has woken up a little early, but still in time for school. A feeling of shame seizes him. If he goes to school, he will see Yunho. He doesn’t want to see Yunho. He doesn’t want to face him, because Yunho knows that he chose to stay. That he chose not to leave with them. That he didn’t choose to leave with Yunho.

Would he be angry?

Mingi lies back down and but he can’t seem to get back to sleep. When the lights go on and the youth home officer comes around to yell at them to get up for school, he drags himself out of bed and pulls on his uniform. His dread continues to mount throughout the bus ride to school. Will Yunho be there? He will just have to try his best to avoid him as much as possible.

As soon as he steps off the bus, something comes barrelling into him, tackling him with a hug. It knocks the wind right out of him, and when they pull away, his heart sinks.

“Yunho. How did you—”

“What kind of a person would I be if I didn’t know how my friend gets to school?” Yunho is dressed in regular clothes not his uniform, and he has a bag slung over his shoulder. The boy takes his hand, tugging him away from the school, towards the bus stop. Away from the school.

“Don’t we… aren’t we going to school?”

“There’s no time to explain. Wooyoung and Yeosang are waiting for us. Jongho’s getting San.”

“What about Seonghwa hyung? And Hongjoong hyung?”

Yunho hesitates, but he continues to hold out his hand to flag down their bus.

“I will explain when we reach. But let’s meet the rest first.” When they get seated on the bus, Yunho digs out a bulky purple and orange jacket from his bag and presses it into Mingi’s hands.

“Put this on, if not everyone will know we’re skipping school. I brought some pants for you, we’re the same size. You can change into it when we reach.”

Mingi tugs the jacket on slowly, looking at Yunho pull out his phone and call someone in bewilderment. He’s never really managed to interact this much with Yunho before—they ran in different social circles in school, Yunho is one of those popular, wealthy kids who has everything they could ever want. He was smart too. Always one of the top few students on the ranking.

But he isn’t like the rest of the rich kids he hung out with. He gets along well with everyone, but Mingi avoids him like the plague. He knows he can never measure up to him, that he would feel terrible and inadequate standing next to him.

So he sticks to his own crowd of students who slept in class and failed exams and don’t have money to go out and play, and keeps turning down Yunho’s repeated invitations to go out for a meal or to the arcade.

But Yunho keeps coming back. Mingi doesn’t quite understand him. He doesn’t understand why the boy is so eager to get to know him, or why he didn’t go running back to his rich friends when he knows that Mingi is an orphan, living in a group home with other abandoned teens. He doesn’t seem to mind that Mingi is a bad student, or that his uniform is always dirty because he only has one set and he can only wash it on weekends.

He doesn’t understand how someone like him would ever be interested with being friends with someone like Mingi. Good things never happened to him. The only good thing that happened to him were the dreams and meeting the other boys. But that only happened in dreams.

The bus turns down the street and the entrance of the school disappears from view. Mingi turns to back only to find Yunho looking at him, a concerned expression on his face. 

“Are you alright? You don’t mind skipping a day of school right? I told my friends from your class and mine to take notes for us, so don’t worry. We can study together later and catch up.”

Mingi blinks. Something seems to occur to Yunho and he slaps himself, crying, “I’m so dumb! Oh my god. You won’t get in trouble for skipping school right? I forgot you have to answer to your youth supervisors at the home. Crap! Will they get on your back for not going to school? Do they report your attendance to them? I completely forgot about that, I’m so sorry. Do you want to go back—”

His hand moves to slap himself in the face again, but Mingi catches it and holds it tight.

“It’s fine. I won’t get in trouble.” He knows his youth home will probably give him a scolding for it, maybe cut his weekend outing, but it’s not like they haven’t done it before. It’s not like he hasn’t had enough of school and feeling dumb and skipped out before.

“Really?”

“Really,” For the first time in a very long time, Mingi’s chest feels warm. Yunho’s worried expression dissolves, and a smile, relieved and genuine, is spreading across his face. Mingi can’t help but grin as well.

 _Thank you, Yunho. For caring about me_.

“I’ll be fine.”

~

Today is moving day. As much as he hates this house, San doesn’t really feel like leaving just yet. He’s going to leave a part of him behind here. This was where he grew up. This was where he had good times with his family, when they still got along.

This was where he had the dreams.

The way the dream ended last night still unsettled him a little. He couldn’t remember much, except that the scary stranger in the suit was telling him that they were going to leave, and that Yeosang, Mingi, Seonghwa, and Hongjoong weren’t coming with them. The last thing he had seen was Hongjoong lunging at the man and grabbing the hourglass from his hand, and then he woke up in his own bed, panting like he’d just run a marathon.

At this moment, his mother sticks her head in his empty room, a scowl on her face.

“Are you done? The van is waiting.”

“Okay, okay, I know.” He looks at his phone. It had run out of battery last night and he forgot about it until just, when the van had arrived. He needed to charge it, but his mother kept chasing him to pack the boxes into the van, so he couldn’t. 

The phone screen flickers to life as he climbs into the front seat of the van. His mother is sitting in the back seat, talking to her boyfriend over the phone, so she pays him no heed. He props his chin up against the ledge of the car window as the driver started the van and they pulled out of the lot of his childhood home.

_I guess this is it._

They are driving down one of the streets near his house when he sees a familiar figure in a distance, running. It looks like a young boy in what he can only assume is a school uniform, because there’s a school bag bouncing against his back as he runs down the street.

The van pulls to a halt at a junction in the street to let other cars pass. San watches as the kid stops at the opposite side of the junction, huffing and puffing. He looks up from his phone and their eyes lock. San’s heart almost stops.

It’s Jongho. He can’t believe his eyes.

Jongho recognizes him as well, and his eyes go comically wide. The cars clear and the van sputters to a start, but Jongho doesn’t cross the road. San can’t do anything. It takes a beat, but the younger boy seems to realize that he’s going to lose San, so he starts waving, pointing frantically at his phone and screaming something that San can’t understand.

San quickly yanks out his phone and is relieved to see that the screen is on. He just barely manages to key in his passcode when the messages come flooding in. Holy—46 missed calls from Wooyoung, 24 messages from Yeosang and 11 from Jongho. How had the youngest even gotten his number?

A new message pops up, from Jongho in all caps.

_GET OFF THE CAR YUNHO HYUNG SAYS HE FOUND SOMETHING._

The van turns out onto the main road. San can see Jongho, now a figure in the mirror, running. He looks over to the driver, the man is humming as he drives.

"Sorry, sir, but can you stop the car? I need to get off."

The man looks at him like he's gone and sprouted another head.

"Please, sir. I need to get off," he tugs his backpack on stuffing his phone securely away so it won't go flying when he takes off.

"Are you crazy, boy? We're driving!" In the periphery of his vision, San sees the intersection coming up. The light turns red.

Perfect. In the rearview mirror, he can see that his mom is still in the phone, she doesn't seem to notice what's going on yet. When the car slows to a stop, he takes a deep breath, flips the lock, and throws the door open.

"Hey! You can't do that! Boy!"

He hops down, slams the door shut, and starts sprinting. San weaves through the cars; he gets to the sidewalk just as the red man comes on.

In the distance, he can see the figure of Jongho jumping and waving, his school bag bobbing up and down in excitement. San’s heart soars as he smiles and waves right back.

He starts running towards his friend, and he doesn't look back once.

~

Wooyoung feels jittery. It's an unfamiliar feeling, but as he sits there, with the ice slowly melting into his coffee, he can't help but jiggle his leg nervously.

Beside him, Yeosang is has become so quiet that Wooyoung keeps checking every now and then to make sure he's still there, that he hasn't vanished or something. In that instant, guilt fills the pit of his stomach. His friend, his _best friend_ wanted to stay. He didn't want to go back to their reality, to their real world. He wasn’t happy in reality. How could Wooyoung have missed that? Was he really that blind? How could he have been that selfish to assume—

At that very moment, a soft tingle of the bells on the door announces the entrance of customers, and both him and Yeosang look up. He feels his heart lift when he sees Yunho and Mingi. They are panting slightly as they bow to the baristas, eyes scanning the café for their friends.

"Here! Over here!" he waves them over and they join their table. Yunho is grinning from ear to ear, and Mingi looks windswept but elated.

"I can't tell you how happy I am that you actually exist," is the first thing the tall boy says, and Mingi nods in full agreement, "I was so scared that I had just dreamt the whole thing with Mingi."

"You're being ridiculous." Wooyoung chortles, "Didn't we just talk on the phone yesterday? Why’d you think we're a dream?"

"Well, technology is very advanced, you could have been some bot, or artificial intelligence like Siri, or y'know... " they stare at Yunho as he trails off, like he is realizing how mad he sounds, "like an android or something."

The rest look as amused as he feels. Wooyoung feels like hes flying on the ship again. His heart is so happy—

The door jingles again, and in comes Jongho, with San in tow. They greet the people at the counter, and Jongho stops to talk to one of them, who he clearly knows.

"Hello, Mr Choi Jongho. Ditching school again?"

"Hi Eden-hyung. If anyone asks, I'm doing a group project."

"Right. The usual for you? I'll bring it over."

"Yes, please. Thank you hyung."

"No problem."

Wooyoung asks that rest if they want anything to drink. Mingi says no, but Yunho insists that they share a drink or something, so he orders a large glass of orange juice for them. San says he’s fine, and Yeosang is quiet— Wooyoung had asked him if he wanted a drink earlier, but he had said he didn't. Jongho eyes Yeosang's expression and San looking awkwardly around at the rest of them, and declares that he knows what they like, and shouts for Eden to give him a hot chocolate and a yoghurt smoothie. This makes Yeosang's ears turn pink, and San's face split into a bright, open grin. Eden rolls his eyes, but Wooyoung can see that he’s smiling.

"So, does anyone know what happened last night? Why did the dream get, y’know?” Yunho mimics a scissors with his hand, making a snipping sound.

"No idea. I saw Hongjoong hyung tackle the hat dude and then I was back home." San says. Jongho nods in agreement.

"I couldn't go back into the dream, did anyone try going back to sleep?"

Mingi raises his hand, as does Yeosang. Wooyoung lifts his hand too, and Yeosang looks surprised.

"I thought... Why did you try to go back to the dream?" He drops his hand slowly, trying to read Yeosang’s expression. This is the most that he’s said today.

"Why not? I wanted to know what happened."

"But..." They watch as Yeosang struggles to gather his words, "But..."

"You asked to leave." Mingi finishes quietly. The earlier feeling of guilt floods him again. Wooyoung shifts in his seat.

"Yeah, I did. But so did Hongjoong hyung and Jongho. We wanted us to leave. I wanted to leave." Yeosang's expression is frozen. Jongho glances up at Eden, who has just come by with their drinks. There is a lull in the conversation as they thank the barista politely and distribute their drinks, but when everyone is done and ready to listen, Wooyoung's throat feels tight. They are all waiting, and he has to continue, so he coughs to clear it before starting again.

"I wanted to leave. But that was before I found out that Hongjoong hyung couldn't leave with us. Anywhere we go, we should go together. We're a team. It's all of us or nothing."

"All for one, one for all." murmurs Jongho softly. Wooyoung nods. He turns to see Yeosang looking at him with strange expression on his face.

"Yeosang, I—"

Before he can finish, Yeosang pulls him into a tight hug. He relaxes, hugging the boy back.

"You're my best friend," Wooyoung says softly, "I'd never leave you behind."

He feels Yeosang sniffle quietly, then he says, in a watery voice, "You’re my best friend too, Young-ah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I wanted to stay."

"It's ok. I'm sorry I didn't ask."

They draw apart. The table is quiet, until Jongho finally makes a throat-clearing sound.

"Hyung, sorry to interrupt. I’m glad you managed to set things straight… but we're still nowhere near figuring out what happened to the dream. Does this mean we will never fall asleep again? Yunho hyung, you said you found something?"

Yunho perks up, "Ok, so. I was asking around my parents, and as turns out that Hongjoong isn't a common name. I figured I could try my luck and just do a general search, but nothing came. Then I figured I'd try searching for hyung on social media, and..."

"And...?" Mingi asks as Yunho pulls out his phone. They watch him open an application and it takes a while, but finally he turns the screen to them, Wooyoung finds himself staring at the profile of a smiling young man, but instead of bright blue, his hair is a stark platinum blonde, almost white.

"That's... That's hyung!" he exclaims. Yunho nods, passing to the phone to him. They huddle around as Wooyoung scrolls down the page.

"Look, it's Seonghwa hyung!" points out Jongho. He's right, the older boy was laughing in this picture, trying to hide his face from the camera as whoever who's taking the photo tries to get a picture of him. The caption reads, _'a shy Mars'_.

"Mars," San whispers, looking dumbstruck, "that's what we call Seonghwa hyung."

"That's a hospital bed." It's Yeosang's words that make him stop scrolling.

"What? Where?"

"Go back to Seonghwa hyung." Wooyoung places the phone on the table so everyone can see. He tapped on the picture of Seonghwa ducking his head behind his hand, so they can see that he's leaning over the end of a bed.

"There. You can only see the end of it, but that's a hospital bed. My..." Yeosang hesitates, "My mother used to have one of these at home."

"Oh." Wooyoung swipes out from the picture and goes to the location information on the post. The hospital name blinks back at them.

_Bingo._

"This post was from two weeks ago. Do you think he's still there?"

"I can check." Jongho says suddenly. When they all look at him, he flushes and draws away, "My father is the director of that hospital."

San gives a low whistle as Wooyoung looks up the location. Jongho pulls out his own phone, standing up and moving away from them when his father answers.

"Dude, this is the other side of town. We'll take forever to get there."

"You boys going somewhere?" They look up at the voice. Eden, Wooyoung remembers Jongho calling him, is standing over them, wiping his hands on his apron, "Where to? I'll see if I can drop you off. I need to go out and get some stuff anyway."

"Eden-hyung… I mean Eden-nim—”

“Eden-hyung is fine,” the older man smiles as he peers into the phone. Wooyoung taps out of the navigation application to show Eden the hospital name, but to their surprise, Eden sucks in a sharp breath when he sees the photo in the post.

"Isn't that Seonghwa? Park Seonghwa." Wooyoung almost drops Yunho’s phone in surprise. Jongho has rejoined them in time to catch the end of the conversation. He looks from the phone to Eden, as round as orbs.

"Hyung, how do you know Seonghwa hyung?"

The barista straightens up, scratching his head, "Well, I can't say I know him. I know Hongjoong. That's why I came over—I heard you guys saying his name."

Wooyoung's jaw has dropped so many times today, he doesn’t even know how it’s still attached to his face. It's probably on the floor right now. Eden holds a hand out for Yunho’s phone.

“May I?” Eden doubles back up the page until he sees Hongjoong's profile picture.

"Yes, that's the Hongjoong I know. Apart from high schools, there are a few universities in this area. We get lots of young people during term time. Hongjoong’s a good kid, used to come in all the time. We could talk for hours about almost anything. He hasn't been able to come by recently, so he's been getting his friend Seonghwa to pass letters between us." Eden chuckles at this, his smile fond.

They glance at each other, not sure about what to say, until San seems to remember why they are here.

“So, Eden-hyung. Could you… maybe…” Eden glances expectantly at San, who shrinks a little, looking abashed. The barista sweeps over all their faces, then smiles, quite suddenly.

“Of course I will send you there. Any friend of Hongjoong is a friend of mine."

~

They get to the hospital in what must be record time, because Eden drives like he owns the road. Yeosang is glad that the delivery van has seatbelts. He does not pity Yunho and Jongho, who’d volunteered to sit in the goods section of the van, because they said they were less prone to getting car sick. Hopefully that still holds true after this very… exhilarating car ride.

The lobby is large and busy. Yeosang shrinks closer to San and Yunho. San throws a comforting arm around his shoulder and gives him a reassuring squeeze. He’s clearly not the only one that feels awkward; Mingi scans the walls with the lists of hospital donors with a strange look on his face, and Wooyoung winces when his sneakers squeak against the gleaming floor. Jongho is the only one who looks comfortable—he must come here often. They watch him saunter over to the front counter and greet the staff there in a familiar way.

“You seem to know everybody. Why do you know everybody?” Wooyoung asks as they pile into the lift. The youngest barely glances up from his phone from where he’s tapping so fast, Yeosang can barely see his fingers.

“What can I say? I get around.” The flippant answer elicits a bark of laughter from Yunho, which the other boy disguises with a cough. His behavior makes Mingi laugh loudly, even though there were about five other people in the elevator with the. Despite his anxiety and personal dislike for hospitals, Yeosang finds himself smiling.

They weren’t really that different from their dream-selves, after all, he thinks as they step out on their level. Yunho is still the same generous, jovial boy, Mingi is still kind, and so incredibly endearing in his own little ways. Wooyoung still cares about him and laughs at everything he says, San is still easily excitable and caring, and Jongho's as social and quick-witted as ever. To this day, they could never figure out how he haggled the price of that beautiful telescope that strange rabbit-filled island to a quarter of its original value. Yeosang thinks they will never truly know, because he’s Jongho. He could do anything he set his mind to.

From a distance, they can see a familiar figure seated in the hallway outside a room. He is stretched out in one of those uncomfortable hospital chairs, hands crossed over his chest and staring at a spot on the hospital wall.

Seonghwa doesn’t even notice them coming closer, which is a feat in itself. They are not the most discreet bunch. Plus, Wooyoung’s sneakers really don’t seem to like the hospital flooring very much.

“Hyung?” San’s voice seems to burst the bubble that Seonghwa is mulling in. The older boy looks up and they watch as his features fill with utter shock.

“You—”

San throws himself unceremoniously into Seonghwa’s arms, muttering softly about how he’s sorry that they took so long and how he can’t believe Seonghwa is really _real_ and please where is Hongjoong hyung, they need to know, why are they in a hospital—

They pull apart and Seonghwa holds San at arms-length, then looks at each of them in turn, his gaze softening as he takes in each and every one of their faces.

“You’re all here. How did you find us?” Yunho lifts up his phone and opens the screen to Hongjoong’s profile, smiling weakly.

“Technology.” For a moment, none of them breathe, then Seonghwa’s lip twitches and he starts chuckling. Yeosang can’t help but smile too. This reminds him of the times they would spend on the ship together, whether it was mopping the deck, or getting chased out of the bridge for trying out the steering wheel without supervision, or examining a strange landform while standing atop the sails, or trying to convince Seonghwa to change their course for them to check out that cloud that looked like a turtle. It has always been like this, a special kind of friendship.

A special kind of home.

At that moment, the door behind them clicks open, and an older woman and a doctor walk out, talking in low voices. The woman is small in stature, but when she looks over to them, Yeosang sees Hongjoong in her kind, bright eyes, and her dainty nose.

“Sorry we took so long, Seonghwa-ah. You can go in and sit with him now. And hello… you all must be…?” Yeosang suddenly feels like hiding when she turns her gaze to them. Her eyes are still kind, but they had the sharp quality that Hongjoong’s had, the glint that he would get in his eye whenever one of the boys got into trouble with outsiders, or when he was sizing up people who were rude to any of them when they were running errands on land.

They are lucky that Yunho is brave, because he lifts his hand in a half wave, a brilliant, charming smile on his face.

“Hi! We are Hongjoong hyung's friends! I’m Yunho, this is Wooyoung, Mingi, San, Jongho and Yeosang. Nice to meet you.” He points out each of them in turn and all of them bow or wave awkwardly.

Hongjoong’s mother doesn’t look convinced, but she still smiles and shakes all their hands as a way of greeting.

“Ah… I don’t think I’ve seen any of you come by before. Hongjoong has—”

“We only met Hongjoong hyung recently!” stutters San, a little hurriedly, “We met in uh… in a—”

“Online game.” Jongho finishes for him, and flashes a bright grin, “We met in an online game. Seonghwa hyung plays the same game too.”

“That’s right! We play an online game together.” San takes Yunho's phone and wiggles it for emphasis. The older woman gives them one more scrutinising look, before turning to Seonghwa.

“Seonghwa, you know these boys?” Seonghwa nods respectfully, placing a hand on San’s shoulder.

“Yes, omoni, I know all of them.” The mother relaxes visibly, and the doctor clears her throat to speak.

“Mrs Kim, I do have some other things to discuss with you. Would you like to join me in my office?”

“Yes, of course.” Hongjoong’s mother looks over them one more time, before turning to Seonghwa, “You boys go on in. Try not to touch anything, and Seonghwa you know which button to press if anything happens. I don’t think there are enough chairs…”

“Don’t worry, Omoni, we will make do. I’m sure there’s enough space on the sofa and the window seat.”

“Of course. Thank you for coming, boys.” She reaches out to hold each of their hands again, her eyes glazing over just a little, “I’m sure if Hongjoong was awake, he’d be happy to see you too.”

As soon as the two women are out of earshot, Wooyoung nudges Seonghwa, whispering loudly, “Whoa, you call his mother omoni? How well do you know each other?!”

Seonghwa’s smile looks strained, “Well enough. She insists I call her that and doesn't reply if I call her anything else.”

“That’s mad.” Mingi says, sounding in awe. Seonghwa looks half-flattered, half exasperated. It’s quite a comical expression.

“Let’s just go in. Be careful, watch out for wires.”

The hospital room is dimly lit and cold. Once Yeosang’s eyes adjust to the light and he can see their friend on the bed, he feels his heart sink like a stone to the pit of his stomach.

Hongjoong doesn’t just look like he’s sick. Yeosang’s mother is sick, he knows what sick looks like. This… this makes it look like Hongjoong is d—

"Hey, look who's here? They dug around and found us. Told you the internet was a dangerous place." He hears Seonghwa say quietly to the unresponding boy as they each find a spot in the room. Mingi has his arm linked tightly with Yunho’s, and they are huddled on the small loveseat with Jongho, Yeosang is with Wooyoung on the window, both of them sitting as close to each other as they physically can. Seonghwa gets the bedside chair, where he gets to reach out and close his fingers over Hongjoong’s limp, unmoving ones, and San is sitting on the arm of his chair.

Yeosang wants to disappear right then and there. He can’t believe this. Hongjoong can’t be leaving. They… they’ve only just gotten to meet him, for real.

“Is he…” Mingi asks, his voice small and forlorn, “Is he usually like…”

Seonghwa lets out a shaky sigh, and when he speaks, they can hear the tears in the back of his throat.

“No. He was fine yesterday, when I saw him. He hasn’t even been staying in the hospital, they were letting him out on home leave. But that's the pattern, he always gets better, a lot better towards the end of the journey. But last night after…”

The oldest boy lets the sentence fall away, his fingers gently grazing their captain’s delicate fingers, the only part of his hand that is not covered in bruises or stuck with needles. They stay quiet for a while, the only sound in the room the soft beeping, clicking, and hissing of the machines that crowded around Hongjoong’s bed.

“Why didn’t…” Jongho says, then swallows audibly, “why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t hyung say anything?”

Seonghwa looks like he’s in physical pain, but when he answers, his voice is deadened, almost like he has rehearsed this line many times in his own head. “He doesn't want you to feel like you can't leave. He wants you to move on with your lives and not know what becomes of him. He doesn't want to hurt any of you.”

There’s a pause, then Wooyoung grinds out, his voice shaking with barely controlled anger, “That’s stupid. He’s stupid. We—”

When he gets too emotional to continue, its Yeosang’s turn to pull him close as he twists his hand into his friend’s shirt.

“I told him that too. I told him I would have stayed no matter what.” Seonghwa said. He leaned on San, who reached over and gave him a comforting squeeze, “But he didn’t want me to see him go. He kept trying to get me to leave. He never told me, but I know he was getting weaker. I talked to his older brother about how he has been during the past year and I plotted it out. Every time he repeated the journey, every 6 months or so, he started out worse than the time before.”

“So this time—”

“He didn’t think he would survive the plunge this time. When the hourglass resets, everything crashes. Two steps forward, three steps back.”

Yeosang feels like something inside him is twisting and twisting and twisting. He doesn’t want to cry, but it hurts.

Just then, Seonghwa stops stroking Hongjoong’s fingers. He straightens quite suddenly, almost knocking San off the arm of his chair as he sits forward, peering at Hongjoong’s hand.

“Hyung? Are you—” Seonghwa holds up a hand and Yunho stops, and they all watch in confusion, as Seonghwa gently takes Hongjoong’s hand, and turning it over slowly, unfurling his fingers. He must recognize whatever is in his fingers, because there is a sharp intake of breath when he pulls it gently from Hongjoong’s grasp. San stands up and takes a look, and he gasps as well.

“The hourglass.” Seonghwa lets the boy take the item. He holds it up and they see that he’s right. It’s a miniature replica of the hourglass that the man in the mask had been holding in the dream. Yeosang gets to his feet.

“What is it doing here—”

“… Did Hongjoong hyung actually manage to take it from the—”

He glances over at Seonghwa, who isn’t paying attention to the hourglass. He is holding something else in his hand, which Yeosang recognizes is that silver bracelet that he always wears in their dreams. No matter what outfit he chose, he always has that bracelet on. It's his… thing.

“What does this mean?” Wooyoung asks as he takes the hourglass from San and turns it over in his hand, “Do you think this is a message?”

“From who?”

The answer seems obvious, but none of them say a word. They all look at Wooyoung playing with the hourglass in his hand.

“Guys,” Mingi finally speaks, and Yeosang can see the cogs turning in his head. “Guys, remember you guys were saying how you couldn’t go back to sleep after we woke up last night?”

“What about it?”

“What if we tried that now? What if we all try going to sleep, with hyung, right here, right now? Do you think we would go back in?”

“Are you sure it’s not because you’re tired and you want a nap?” Yunho says half-heartedly, but Yeosang can tell he’s considering it because of the lack of heat in his teasing.

“No.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“It can’t hurt to try.” Seonghwa says quietly, “What do we have to lose?”

The answer is too painful to consider. Finally, San claps his hands together, the sound making all of them jump in the stillness of the room.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

~

He’s cold. That’s the only coherent thought he manages to form, after what feels like an eternity. He can feel grass tickling his neck, and the gentle breeze against his hair, but when he opens his eyes, he sees nothing but the pitch-black sky. None of the stars are out tonight.

It’s so dark. And cold. He’s so cold.

There’s something hard and unyielding pressed against his chest, but he doesn’t have the energy to look at what it is. In his right hand, the hand that no longer exists in the real world, he can feel something cold and slippery, like a knobbly necklace. But it’s too small to be a necklace. So it’s a necklace, but one of those that goes around wrists. What is that called?

A wrist necklace. A... braze. A brace. A bracelet. That’s right, a bracelet.

He has been turning it over in his hand since they disappeared. The bracelet. He feels their names slipping from his mind, like the clouds between his fingers when he tried to touch them. The wrist… thing. The bracelet. Yes. It belongs to someone.

Not him. Someone else. Someone important.

A sudden ache seizes him. He’s lonely. He misses them. He can barely even remember their names but he knows their faces better than he knows his own, and he misses them. All of them. They are like his family. They are his family.

He’s cold. Cold and lonely. And maybe underwater, because he’s quite sure that there’s someone speaking, but he can’t hear them clearly. They need to be louder, or, I don’t know, they need to get out of the water.

There’s something touching his arm. He doesn’t want to check at first, but the thing turns into a hand, and it grabs him firmly. He does not resist when it hauls him into an upright position.

Suddenly, as if someone has just dumped a bucket of ice water on him, he is jolted back into consciousness, gasping involuntarily. The time in the hourglass he has clutched to his chest is flowing again. He is flowing again.

“—hyung? Hongjoong hyung, can you hear me?”

“Is he awake? How long has he been sleeping here, my goodness—”

“Hongjoong? Hongjoong.”

Seonghwa. And Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, and Wooyoung, and Jongho. They are back. They came back.

“You guys came back…?”

“Oh thank god, he’s making sense again.” San’s face peers into his, and the boy’s smile is like the sun, “Hyung! How are you feeling?”

“I’m…” Hongjoong struggles to find his tongue, but he can’t seem to find the words to use. Instead, he holds out the hourglass he has clutched to his chest. He hears Yunho give a low whistle and someone cheers. Probably Wooyoung.

“You really got it, huh? Nicely done, hyung.”

“Thanks,” he manages, as he lifts up the hourglass, looking at the way it reflects the night sky. He must have not seen things clearly earlier—the sky above the clearing in front of the cave is now an endless tapestry of stars. It looks almost magical on the gleaming surface of the hourglass.

Then a thought occurs to him.

“How did all of you get back?” It has to be about the middle of the night right now, which usually means the middle of the day for the real world. They couldn’t be all sleeping at midday, could they?

“We found you and Seonghwa hyung and we are all, at this very moment, taking a very enthusiastic nap in your hospital room.” explains Jongho, a cheeky glint in his eye. He almost drops the hourglass and the bracelet in his hand.

“All of you?”

“All of us. Don’t worry, you were already sleeping, so you’ve got a massive headstart.” Yeosang deadpans, and for a moment, Hongjoong doesn’t know if he’s joking. There is a collective pause, then Wooyoung lets out what sounds like a cross between a squawk and a chortle, and that is what sets the rest of them off into a round of laughter. As they calm down, Mingi comes over and tugs on his sleeve, wearing a frown that looks very strange on his usually smiling face.

“Don’t you dare kick us out again.” He nods and Mingi bends down to knock their foreheads together, clearly satisfied with his answer.

“Hongjoong.” He looks at his friend, then drops his gaze when he sees the sharp agony on his face. The other boy doesn’t say much, but he sticks out a hand, and after a beat, Hongjoong takes it. The bracelet is sandwiched between their palms. The cold bite of the metal is strangely grounding.

“Let’s not do that again.”

He nods. Then…

“I’m sorry.” Both of them say at simultaneously. They look at each other in astonishment, then burst out into laughing.

“Wait, what is there for you to be sorry for?” Hongjoong asks his best friend between giggles. Seonghwa shakes his head and steadies himself with a few deep breaths.

“I just—I didn’t know what you meant by you don’t want to hurt them.” Hongjoong feels his stomach turn when he sees the pain return to the corner of Seonghwa’s eyes, “But when I saw their faces, when they saw you…”

“I know.” He says quietly, “And I’m sorry I made you deal with it alone.”

“Mm.” Out of the blue, Seonghwa squeezes his hand, quite aggressively. With the bracelet in between, it actually hurts. Seonghwa has a surprisingly strong grip.

“Ouch! Hey!”

“So don’t do it again.” He rolls his eyes and grins, lifting his friend’s hand and trying to bite it. Seonghwa yelps, but doesn’t let go.

“Okay.”

They grin at each other for a while, until Yunho coughs loudly. Oh right. The boys. They are all still there, standing around, watching their exchange with bemused expressions.

“Wow, Mingi's right.” Yunho mutters. The other boy nudges him, throwing him a look.

“Mingi? About what?” Suddenly, Wooyoung is interested again. He tugs Mingi’s arm, asking, “Dude, what did you say?”

“Nothing! I said nothing.”

“No, that doesn’t sound like nothing. Song Mingi—"

“Anyway!” booms Jongho, his voice overpowering his hyungs', “We’re here now. Where do we go next, captain?”

All seven pairs of eyes go to Hongjoong. He sticks his tongue against the side of his cheek, looking from one expectant face to another, then at the tin-lined cave, before he finally sighs.

“Sorry, I actually have no clue. I’ve never made it past this point before. The man always comes just before we enter the cave and does his crazy time reset thing.”

The cave entrance yawns at him like a black chasm. But none of the boys look upset at this new piece of information. Hongjoong was honestly waiting for someone to get pissed over his lack of leadership and direction, but all he gets are a bunch of solemn stares and serious eyes. He’s surprised.

Ok, maybe he’s not _that_ surprised. These boys are unlike anyone else he has ever met before. Nothing about them surprises him anymore.

“So let’s do that.” Wooyoung says, in a matter-of-fact tone. San nods, perching his elbow on his friend’s shoulder, “You’ve never done that before, so let’s do it. Let’s go into the cave.”

“All of us.” San interjects, and everyone nods in agreement, “As long as we are together, I’m good.”

“Me too.” Chirps Yeosang, “8 makes 1 team.”

“8 makes 1 team,” Hongjoong rolls the new phrase over in this mouth. It feels nice, “I like that.”

“So shall we go?”

Seonghwa is the first to stretch out his arm, and Yeosang happily ducks under it, hugging the hourglass as the oldest wraps his arm around his shoulders. Hongjoong links arms with Jongho, who grabs Mingi, who is already holding onto Yunho. Wooyoung whines when San breaks away from him to take Yeosang’s side, but San tugs him over, squishing their cheeks together in a side hug when he’s close enough.

He glances at Seonghwa, who is already looking at him with shining eyes.

“Together?”

He nods.

“Together.”

~

**Epilogue**

The bracelet feels warm in his hand. It is a testament to how long he has had it clutched in his palm as he sits on the bench, waiting.

He sighs, leaning back and resting his neck on the back of the seat. The sun is setting, and it’s one of those dusks where the sky decides to be exceptionally beautiful. They had many, many sunsets like this on _Aurora._ Sunsets in that world were always beautiful. If he tilts his head far back enough, the sky is the only thing filling his vision with its washes of purple, pink, and orange hues. It bears a striking resemblance to the sky in their dreams. If he breathes in, really, really deeply, he can smell _Aurora_ ’s canvas masts, and the strange heady scent of the hot sun and something sweet. Forsythias, Hongjoong had told him, once. She always had a slight, lingering scent of forsythias.

He closes his eyes and spreads out his arms, wishing he could feel her weathered wood under his fingertips, wishing could feel the stars waiting for him, in the night sky—

Something hits him on his knee and makes him jerk upright, squeaking. He looks around irritably and finds the perpetrator almost immediately, sitting on the ledge of the park’s water fountain, looking away from him and twirling a stick between his fingers.

“Kang Yeosang.” The younger boy drops the stick, feigning a look of innocence as he looks about the sparsely populated park. It’s evening time, on a weekday, no one’s around.

“That wasn’t me. That was that pigeon, over there.” Seonghwa rolls his eyes, using his foot to gently flick some loose gravel in Yeosang’s direction.

“You brat. Do that again and you can say goodbye to your skateboard. I'll take it and get it sawed into half and I will go to the river and…” He makes a throwing motion at the fountain behind the boy. Yeosang looks scandalized.

“You would never. “

“Try me.”

“What are you two bickering about again?” Seonghwa looks over to the side. Hongjoong looking at them with raised brows, and Yunho is pushing him over in his wheelchair. They reach the pair of them, the wheels coming to a crunching halt right beside Seonghwa.

“Hyung, thank heavens you’re here.” Yeosang hurries over, shoving Seonghwa away as he takes the place on the bench closest to Hongjoong, “Seonghwa just accused me of the most heinous crime, he was just looking at the sky like this, and I was bird-watching like this, and I saw that pigeon over there fling a pebble at his leg. Then next thing I knew, he was scolding me for it, threatening to chop up my skateboard.”

Seonghwa chokes at Yeosang’s tearful voice. He struggles to find words even as Yunho vouches for Yeosang, “Hyung, Yeosang is right, I saw the whole thing. The pigeon did it.”

“I—you—!”

He looks at Hongjoong for support, but all the young man does is chuckle, reaching to pat Yeosang on his head, “Was it really the pigeon? I guess it was.”

“Kim Hongjoong!”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” As Seonghwa sputters in indignation, Hongjoong leans back in his wheelchair and tilts his head up, so that he can see the sky. A look of recognition flickers across his face.

“What were you even doing, looking at the sky? Were you daydreaming, and smelling the flowers?”

“... Neither. I was smelling the forsythias.” It’s a word that makes Hongjoong’s face splits into a grin as he drops his head down, eyes twinkling like twin stars.

“Fair enough.”

“What are forsythias?” Yeosang asks curiously. Hongjoong describes them to him, and points at a bush in a distance and asks him to pick up any fallen sprigs so that he can bring them over and Hongjoong can tell him which are forsythias. As Yeosang sets off on his mission, Yunho’s phone rings, and he steps aside to answer the call. Seonghwa turns to his friend. He’s staring at Yeosang with amusement, watching the young man stoop around the bottom of the bush for flowers that have fallen off.

“How was it? I’m sorry I couldn’t come today. I had a meeting.”

The other boy looks at him, then his eyes drop to his left trouser leg that hung, forlorn and empty.

“It was fine.” Hongjoong props his chin on his good hand. _It’s my only hand, Mars,_ Hongjoong likes to remind him snidely, before proceeding to shake his empty right-handed sleeve at Seonghwa, as if he doesn’t already know. _I only have one hand, there’s nothing on this one._

The bone cancer had been aggressive. It took away many good things in Hongjoong’s life, but somehow, through it all, he made it. It cost him an arm, which was devastating, but he bounced back from that, powering on and making it into university to learn music production with people his age. It was an amazing feat, seeing how he spent most of his younger schooling years in the oncology unit, trying to get rid of the stubborn thing.

The dreams had started when the cancer metastasized to his brain. That night he snatched the hourglass from the man in the fedora hat, he had suffered a major cerebral event, which is doctor speak for _something-happened-to-your-brain-and-we-have-no-idea-what-is-the-something_. They got him to wake up from his coma, but he still had to recover the speech he lost from the trauma. Then the cancer moved to his leg as some sort of sick, final harrumph and took that away too.

But Hongjoong didn’t seem to mind. He had accepted it, as he does with many bad things in his life, and his only hope was that as his friends, they accept it as well.

 _Why would we think you’re any different if you don’t have an arm and a leg?_ Wooyoung had retorted. _You’re still Kim Hongjoong. You’re still our hyung. You're perfect._

 _That’s not what you said when he was trying to relearn his vocabulary and called Seonghwa’s bracelet a wrist necklace_ , Mingi had piped from across the room.

_That was one time! And you laughed too!_

“… thinks that I should get it fitted with prosthetics.” Seonghwa jolts back to reality. Hongjoong isn’t looking at him, which means he can’t see his look of utter befuddlement.

“Who?”

“My brother. My mother doesn’t like the idea.”

"How about the boys? Ever since they found out you don't have a hand, San and Yunho have been campaigning for a Captain Hook agenda."

"Yeah, the whole way over here, Yunho was trying to get me to consider getting a wooden leg. He says he saw it in a cartoon and he thinks I'd look really cool in it."

They laugh, and then they fall silent as Seonghwa thinks about it, then shakes his head.

“I think you’re wonderful the way you are.”

His friend makes a gagging sound, which, after all these years still makes Seonghwa’s alarm bells tingle slightly, but then he realizes that the man is only faking it.

“Disgusting. Stop being sappy.”

“What, it’s harmless. Don’t get used to it.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

There is a pause, then Seonghwa says, softer this time, “And don’t do that. That sound. You gave me a fright.”

“It’s called revenge.”

“Hong.”

“Okay, okay.” Hongjoong tilts his head at his friend and he knows the other can see the fear in his eyes because he softens. “Sorry. I won’t do it again. I promise.”

“Good.” Hongjoong reaches out and pats him on his knee. At that moment, Yeosang comes back to them, sliding noisily on the park gravel and crashing into Seonghwa as he tumbles onto the bench.

“Which one!”

As Hongjoong laughs and points out the correct flower to Yeosang, Yunho comes back, huffing and puffing under his breath.

"Who was that on the line?"

“San. He says he's already there with Wooyoung and Jongho _._ Mingi is a little late coming from the office, but…”

“We are further away. So we may be even later." Seonghwa slips his bracelet on, "We should get going."

Hongjoong waves at Yeosang for his hand and takes a glance at his watch. "What is he even there so early for? It’s not even 7pm.”

Yunho throws his hands up as Seonghwa stands, taking over the handles of the wheelchair.

“It's Wooyoung's off day, I think, but I have no clue about the other two. We just had a 5 minute debate about whether documenting animal calls in their natural habitats would technically make him a music producer, like you, hyung.”

“How did that even come up?”

“Wooyoung and Jongho persuaded Eden to put on whale music in the café. San says it sounds easy, and he loves animals. He’s considering an impromptu mid-career switch.”

“What did you say to him?” Yeosang asks as they arrive at the car.

“I told him that humans a class of animals by ourselves. All he needs to do is Wooyoung squawking and his career is good to go.”

Hongjoong gives a bark of laughter as Seonghwa helps him move into the car.

“Smart boy.”

Yunho lets Yeosang drive the car to their destination, even though he knows that the other man is worried about the way Yeosang likes to jerk the wheel when he changes lanes. Yeosang is oblivious, chattering to them about his students in high school, while Seonghwa sits at the back with Hongjoong, listening to the radio. He enjoys just sitting and listening to the young men talk about their lives. All he can think about is how far they had all come in their lives. How much they have made of it, despite the twists and turns and strange happenings that life had thrown at them.

Hongjoong likes to say that the boys and Seonghwa saved his life when they decided to come back for him, Seonghwa always tells him that in some ways, it’s the complete opposite. He had met Hongjoong in the troughs of his depression and when the boy was his third cycle of the dreams. Those were dark, lonely times, and Seonghwa hadn’t known what to do, sleeping hours on end and neglecting his work and studies to escape to _Aurora._

No one noticed, except Hongjoong.

It was Hongjoong at that time who persuaded him to find help when he didn’t feel like it. And it was Hongjoong who would ask his mother to drive him over to his student dorms, where he would force his aching body to climb up five flights of stairs and bang on Seonghwa’s door until he opened up and ate the food that they'd had brought him. It was Hongjoong that persuaded Seonghwa to come and stay with him and his mother. His brother had moved out a year before that to work in England, and the house had been quiet since then, especially when Hongjoong was ill. Having someone else around the house would make his mother less lonely, and give her someone who could respond to her when she needed someone to talk to.

Seonghwa had taken it at face value at first, but after a while, he realized that Hongjoong had done it for the both of them, both his mother and Seonghwa. Seonghwa had never been close to his family. His mother walked out on them when he was a child and his father was a businessman who was too busy for him. He was raised by a revolving door of nannies and service staff, all of whom were nice, but held him at arms-length. He never had a real place to call home or a family. Hongjoong was the first person to give him that. He could never understand why or how he knew what he needed, but it meant everything to him.

 _You are the one who saved my life,_ he always replies. And he means it.

As they pile into the café, later that evening, and is greeted by Eden’s kind smile and the smell of coffee and food, Seonghwa’s heart is full. They hear their friends before they see them, and even though the sound system has switched back to its usual brand of jazztronica, he can see that San is still trying to do his best impersonation of a whale, and Wooyoung and Mingi and doubled over with laughter. Jongho has his head buried in his hands, and when Yeosang calls him, he looks absolutely relieved that they have arrived to rescue him. Seonghwa gets a hug from Wooyoung and Mingi tries, as usual, to kiss Yunho, but the boy slides away to take a seat beside Jongho, taking a huge sip of Americano that he will unload onto Mingi if he dares try anything. Hongjoong’s chair slides into its designated spot at the head of the table, and eventually, once they’ve all settled down and are ready to order, Seonghwa catches Hongjoong looking fondly at the boys, eyes filled with so much affection that it makes him smile.

Hongjoong can feel him looking, but their eyes don’t need to meet. Seonghwa offers his hand, and the other man reaches over and plays with the bracelet that he gave Seonghwa, long before the others arrived, when they’d first met on _Aurora_ and seen right through each other.

So this is what it feels like to live. 

_Find your Treasure, and you shall be free._

He is happy.

-fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the story is frightfully long. I would like to thank yani @hongiberry, tinkerbell mira, and trish @swoonyounggie for listening to me freak out and also for agreeing to proofread my stuff only for me to proofread the whole thing myself and post it before they could even do anything i am eternally grateful but also a clown
> 
> I'll think of notes later my brain is melting i'm sleep deprived bye


	2. Author's notes

First and foremost, I would like to express my thanks to those who have helped me with this fic. This fic was written over the span of 2 days from the point when Yeosang's teaser was first released for their July 2020 comeback.

The story does reference the teasers to some degree, but there is really no need to know what the teasers said to understand the story. Several of the members' teasers were used almost word for word (Mingi, Seonghwa, Yeosang, Fedora Man, San), some were used only for gist of it (Yunho, Jongho), some only had the very minor details used (Wooyoung, Hongjoong). At the end of everything, I hope everyone enjoyed it, because I really enjoyed writing it.

That being said, this was a piece written for a competition, but I did not expect to win, only because the first round of the competition isn't so much a test of ability, but rather how well you can make your fic 'stand out' from the crowd. So it was disappointing that many authors, including me, did not get recognised for our work, but nevertheless, I am very very thankful to ATEEZ and their staff for organising such an event for us ATINY. They really do many things with fans at the heart of it, and thinking of us, and I am endlessly appreciative of this group and the people behind them.

The lore in the fic may seem a little disjointed because I didn't want to spend too much time on just exposition, but basically, the dream-reality belongs to Hongjoong, and basically other people get sucked into the dream with him. It was a complication that arose due to his illness in the real world, when the 'cancer' (for lack of a better medical condition because shared dreaming doesn't happen like this, I'm just making things up lmao) moved to his brain. The goal of the whole process of finding the treasure is for him to find 8 people who will stay with him till the end and fight with him, no matter what. The probability of that is terribly low, not many people would want to stay and help him because well. It's a nightmare. The ranks started to fill up when Seonghwa chose to stay, but as you would have read in the story, it took a few tries to get there and Hongjoong's physical body was starting to break down. Eventually the end of the journey got fast-tracked because the boys (at least the ones who didn't want to stay) _chose_ to come back for him. The emphasis isn't so much on them wanting to be in the dream, but more of them wanting all 8 of them to stay together as a team. Hence the 8 makes 1 team and heavy emphasis on them becoming like family. 

If you're curious as to what became of the members in the story, one thing I did have planned out was their jobs after they grew up.

Seonghwa eventually completed university with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychotherapy and Counselling and became a psychotherapist. He does youth counselling work on the side to help people from all walks of life.

Hongjoong became one of the few music producers in the industry that live with physical disabilities. He campaigns actively for all kinds of causes, and his music and life brings hope and happiness to many around him.

Yunho took over his family business, but he branched out and started a social enterprise that runs a vocational school and halfway house for disadvantaged teens. San helped him to build this enterprise up, and he and Yunho work together to run this organisation.

Yeosang returns to school under the encouragement of Hongjoong and Wooyoung, and completes a diploma to work as a teacher. He loves children but opted to teach high school because he feels like there is where he can do his best work, helping teens who were lost and helpless like him.

San decided against moving to the countryside with his mother, and Seonghwa decided that he and San should move in together, into an apartment in the same housing estate as Hongjoong and his mother. They go over to Hongjoong's for breakfast every morning, as often as they can and they often host get-togethers at their apartment. San completed high school and immediately dived into building up the social enterprise, ' _Purple Hearts_ ' with Yunho. 

Mingi becomes a successful financial advisor and insurance consultant. He helps people prepare for rainy days and invest in a future for them and their loved ones. He sometimes drops by the halfway house to hang out with "Yunho and San's kids" and teach them cool stuff. 

Wooyoung goes to university and eventually achieves a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing. He is fulfilling his scholarship contract at public hospitals, but once he is done, he hopes to join Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders to reach out to those in need.

Jongho decided against going to medical school and studied law instead. He is currently a paralegal working towards passing the bar so that he will be able to become a public defender and protect those who cannot afford to fight for themselves.

If you're keen for more anecdotes and backstories, I'm always down to chat on twitter as @crayteez! Thank you and I hope you enjoyed the piece :D

**Author's Note:**

> I know the story is frightfully long. I would like to thank yani @hongiberry, tinkerbell mira, and trish @swoonyounggie for listening to me freak out and also for agreeing to proofread my stuff only for me to proofread the whole thing myself and post it before they could even do anything i am eternally grateful but also a clown
> 
> I'll think of notes later my brain is melting i'm sleep deprived bye


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